Everything looked... normal.
Rin couldn't tell you exactly what he'd been expecting to find. Something bad, obviously, especially after Mephisto's creepy behavior, but even after scrutinizing ever nook and cranny of the the entryway twice, he had zilch. Nothing that could justify the presence of the freakishly tall clown behind him.
Speaking of, the teen cast a suspicious glance over his shoulder.
Mephisto looked like the epitome of innocence, even going so far as to whistle a jaunty tune that had Rin's eye twitching in irritation.
Moral support, my ass. Probably just trying to get out of doing his stupid job.
Still, an amused Mephisto wasn't to be trusted so just in case the freak wasn't just bothering Rin for the hell of it, the teen figured it couldn't hurt to try something else.
He closed his eyes, breathing evening out and mind go blank. It wasn't quite meditation, not like the stuff Suguro and Konekomaru did, but Shura figured it might help him tap into the heightened senses Rin had been ignoring for most of his life.
Almost immediately a dozen new sensations washed over him. It wasn't nearly as overwhelming as it had been back when he first drew Kurikara, and it wasn't long before Rin managed to focus on one, using it to drown out the rest of the clamor.
Bump…
Ba-bump… Ba-bump…
With the rhythmic thumping of his own heart serving as an anchor, he began sorting through more sounds.
There was Mephisto's pulse — difficult as it was to believe that monster even had a heart to speak of — softer and further away. Their rustled breathing and the leaky faucet down the hall followed suit, along with the barely audible skitter-scatter of a rodent's nails as it scoured the floor in search of food. He would have to tell Kuro about that one later.
When sound offered nothing useful, Rin took a deep breath. Smell had always been easier for him to figure out, more intuitive, and right away a couple jumped out at him.
There was the detergent Yukio had used to wash his uniform. The remnants of soap still lingering on his skin. And…and…?
"Eh…?"
Not quite believing his own nose, Rin took another breath, and then another.
The result stayed the same.
The mold-ridden stench of the dorm, the one that had been abusing his nostrils from day one, the one no amount of air freshener or Shiemi's dried herbs could fix, and believe him, Rin had tried.
That smell was just… not there anymore?
Under any other circumstances, Rin would have been jumping with joy. Now he could invite Shiemi over without feeling bad. Not that she ever complained about it, but someone who somehow managed to always smell like a summer garden was definitely bothered by it. Girls were sensitive about that stuff, right?
But that wasn't important right now!
"What did you do?" he asked, demanded really, spinning around to a jab a finger in the gaudy demon's face. Mephisto smiled, apparently unbothered by both the accusation and the appendage.
"My, my," he said pleasantly. "It certainly is an improvement, isn't it~?"
Rin faltered a little. "I… I guess…"
Mephisto's grin became a condescending smirk. "Oh? What's this? You don't sound very pleased. Girls like clean places, you know~"
"S-shut up!" Rin snapped, ears turning red. "All of this is too suspicious!"
But Mephisto just laughed in his face and Rin's eye-twitch returned with a vengeance. He responded by sliding Kurikara off his back, and while doing so did put a stop to Mephisto's stupid chuckles, it was obvious the unspoken threat didn't daunt him in the slightest.
"That again?" the clown asked, rolling his eyes. "Come now, Okumura-kun. Haven't we been over this already?"
Rin's hands closed around empty air.
"Hey!" The teen's eyes flashing around the empty hall. "Get back here, damnit!"
"No need to be so loud," Mephisto said amusedly, suddenly standing right beside him. "In fact, allow me to offer some of that support I mentioned earlier and expressly advise against it."
"Shut up!" Rin swiped at his sword, but it was long gone again.
What followed was perhaps the most unfair game of whack-a-mole in the history of mankind.
Mephisto, being the sadistic mole, would pop up in random places, often the place Rin had previously vacated, and Rin, being a particularly dense mallet, would furiously leap at him, desperately grasping for the sword but never quite managing to touch it.
After having the blasted thing slip through his fingers for umpteenth time, the teen cried out in frustration. "Aaargh! Stop doing that!"
Mephisto laughed, standing before him again and leaning on Kurikara like it was a regular old walking stick and not a centuries old artifact. "Kukuku. Oh, alright~. I admit, while it is terribly amusing to watch you stub your toe against this particular metaphoric rock again and again, I do have other things to do today. So, what do you say?"
Shifting his weight off the sword, he held it up for Rin, who quickly snatched it before the clown had a chance to change his mind.
Mephisto chuckled at the way the teen immediately pressed the sword to his chest, wrapping his arms protectively around, and opened his mouth to say something, probably another insult, but stopped and looked up.
"Hmm, he's awake," he said, and flashed Rin another grin. "Might I suggest apologizing~?"
And then he vanished.
xXx
Egyn lay on the bed he had commandeered for his nap, dully staring at the wooden panels above him as the vestiges of his dream slipped from his mind. The shouting from below continued, growing louder and louder. Slowly, he sat up.
"Don't."
Dead-eyed, he looked at his sister.
Iblis was seated at one of the tiny desks, reading a book that definitely wasn't hers, if the cartoonish figures on the paper cover were anything to go by. She didn't look up at him, seemingly engrossed in its contents.
"…That little shit woke me up." His voice sounded foreign even to his own ears. Gravelly and foreboding, and not at all like his usual, easy tone. Iblis flipped to a new page.
"I know," came her bland response. "Try to calm down."
Egyn shook his head.
"I don't want to 'calm down'." He did not sound like a petulant child when he said that, absolutely not, the stupid little arched eyebrow on his sister's face be damned. "I want to go break his teeth."
Iblis sighed, and finally lowered that damn book.
"Fine," she said. "Do as you like. Just don't come complaining to me afterwards if things do not work out."
Egyn was out the door before she even finished her sentence.
Iblis shook her head. Honestly, that brother of hers…
Father would not be pleased with them if his precious creation got damaged, but she trusted Samael enough to step in if Egyn took things too far. Now then, she thought, turning back to the curious volume she'd acquired from one of the shelves.
Magic guilds, was it?
xXx
Stomping through the hall, Egyn tried to ignore the tightness in his chest.
It would pass, it always did, but right now it was mingling with the ache of necrosis and the combination was pissing him off to no end.
The prospect of having to go down a bunch of stairs and enduring more of that damned noise was more than he could bear and therefore instantly dismissed. The fastest way was always straight ahead, so that's how he went.
xXx
Samael couldn't help but laugh at the expression on Rin's face as the boy clung to his sword.
His younger siblings were all quite adorable when upset and this one was no exception. Just look at those puffed up cheeks!
Granted, the boy was dumber than a doornail, but that was fine. For now, at least. Stupid pawns, while aggravating, were easier to use, and the game was just starting to pick up.
Unable to resist teasing the boy some more, Samael opened his mouth just as there was a subtle spike in power above them. Oh, right. What a shame.
"Hmm, he's awake. Might I suggest apologizing~?"
Rin blinked at his remark with wide, confused eyes, then went still as a statue as time slowed to a halt. Only then, when there would be none to witness it, did Samael allow his face to contort in a pained grimace.
"…Ah, ahahaha~."
His blood was on fire, burning its way through every inch of his diseased body. That little game took a little more out of him than expected, even with his power spread out the way it currently was but oh well~
Samael took a few steps back, dabbed at the blood dripping from his nose with a Hello Kitty handkerchief, disposing of it before snapping his fingers.
Rin had another three hundred and seventy-two milliseconds to look adorably baffled before the ceiling unceremoniously came crashing down.
"WHAT THE HELL?!"
Ignoring Rin's panicked shriek, Samael watched on with distaste as dust and plaster and splintered wood flew every which way.
Good grief. First Amaimon, then Lucifer, and now Egyn. Did none of his siblings have one single iota of respect for other people's property?
His bratty little brother emerged from the wreckage unscathed, albeit scowling. Oh, if that fool thought he was unhappy now, just wait until Samael was done with him. Time may have diminished their fear but he'd remind his siblings just exactly what their positions were.
Humans were frail and quick to break, both in body and mine. They were also incredibly infuriating. Prior to Amaimon's little fit, Samael had had to settle for venting his frustration and murderous impulses in videogames. Or, if that simply wouldn't suffice, he'd indulge his baser side in some unfortunate pocket-dimension before returning to whatever meeting he'd been suffering through in the main timeline, his associates none the wiser.
Ah, the perks of being him~!
During his musings, Egyn had zeroed in on their little brother, advancing on the boy with single-minded purpose.
"Do me a favor, kid," the King of Water muttered darkly, "and shut the hell up!"
And then he punched him.
The force behind it sent Rin flying through the entryway, crashing in and then through the wall and onto the courtyard before his body finally rolled to a stop.
Ouch.
Sparing a quick glance at the body through the gaping hole, Samael determined the boy's life was in no serious peril and turned to his other brother.
"Sleep well?" he asked blithely.
"Bite me!"
Samael made a show of thinking it over, mainly to prolong the scathing look his brother gave him. Yep, terribly annoying but oh so cute~! ︎
"Now that you mention it," Samael said, once he'd had his fill, "I am feeling rather famished. But for now let's wait for our dear dimwit of a little brother to wake up and in the meantime you and I can discuss your little stunt just now, hmm~?"
xXx
Bidding his feline friends goodbye for the day, Kuro hopped off the low stone wall and began his journey home.
True cross town was as lively as ever. An array of brightly colored signs and buildings and tons of people milling about.
Darting between strangers and half-familiar faces, he ran into an alley, vaulting over a pile of rubbish that hadn't been collected yet and narrowly avoiding the cloud of Coal Tar floating merrily above it.
The number of demons within the city had risen dramatically since the festival. From what Rin had told him, the Order was swamped trying to deal with them all, which also meant less time spent together and to Kuro, that was the real tragedy. He hoped they'd fix it soon. He missed playing with Rin.
Kuro was just about to take another of his backroads, when he spotted a familiar face exiting a convenience store. With a happy cry, the Cat Sith jumped off the roof, landing perfectly in front of the teen.
*Yukio!*
"Oh!" The surprise on Yukio's face quickly melted away. "It's you, Kuro. Are you going to the dorm?"
Kuro nodded and held his paw out in the direction of the school.
*Yeah, and you're going the wrong way! It's dinnertime!*
Yukio smiled a funny smile. It wasn't mean or anything, but to Kuro it looked…off somehow. But Yukio was strange like that sometimes, so Kuro shrugged it off. "Can you tell Nii-san I won't make it to dinner? Some work came up unexpectedly and I don't know when I'll be finished." Without waiting for a response, Yukio barged past him. "Thanks, Kuro."
*Eh? Hey! Yukio!*
But Yukio was already gone, swallowed by the masses. With an unhappy yowl, Kuro turned around and continued walking.
If Yukio wanted to ignore family time that was his choice. Rin wouldn't like it, and the thought was almost enough to make Kuro chase after the boy and give him an earful. But since Yukio couldn't hear him the way Rin could, it would just be a waste of time.
Speaking of…
*Ah, I need to hurry! Rin's making miso steak tonight!*
